Nigeria sets sights on six new FIFA-Certified stadiums to enhance football infrastructure and boost international competitiveness.
The Chairman of the National Sports Commission, Mallam Shehu Dikko, has announced that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu aims to establish at least six FIFA-Certified Stadiums across Nigeria.
Nigeria struggles to maintain stadiums that meet FIFA standards, as many facilities are in poor condition.
Dikko emphasized that under the new vision for sports development, renovating and maintaining Nigeria’s sports infrastructure will be a top priority.
As a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) expert, Dikko shared plans to attract private sector investment to revitalize national stadiums for sports and multi-purpose facilities. “We need to create a framework that brings 24-hour activity to these stadiums through partnerships, generating revenue to keep them active and well-maintained,” Dikko said.
“As a PPP expert, I understand what to do to create a Proper framework that will bring back the National stadiums to life and not just for Sports.
“We have to create something around it to give us 24 hours of activities within the stadiums through the Private sector where revenues will be coming in to maintain and get them active”.
“In those days we used to build stadiums as if we were building parade grounds. Just built pitches, tracks and seats and nobody was thinking about what to add to the stadium like hotels, restaurants, the parks and the likes”.
“But I can tell you that the lands available within the Facilities of the National Sports Commission is over 2500 hectares across the Country. Those lands will be used to be the bait to bring the Private sector to utilise the land and get the sporting facilities to work”.
“The focus we have overtime is to have at Least one stadium with full compliance with FIFA regulations in each of the zones, so that we have minimum of six stadiums across the country at every point in time, ready to host any international tournament within two weeks of notice”
“These are the kind of visions we have and things we should be able to deliver, but the immediate priority will be to get the Abuja stadium working and develop a framework too for the National stadium in Lagos to start working much better,” he said.
